{"id":17070,"date":"2026-06-20T12:55:05","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T12:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.iita.org\/news-item\/did-you-know-the-start-of-iitas-research-program\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T18:08:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T18:08:53","slug":"did-you-know-the-start-of-iitas-research-program","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/did-you-know-the-start-of-iitas-research-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Did you know: The start of IITA\u2019s Research Program"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n \t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IITA_TAA_50_380.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1765\" src=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IITA_TAA_50_380.png\" alt=\"IITA_TAA_50_380\" width=\"300\" height=\"96\" \/><\/a>IITA\u2019s first research scientist was entomologist W. Keith Whitney, who accepted the position in 1968.<\/li>\n \t<li>The following year, he was joined by nematologist Fields Caveness and a host of others.<\/li>\n \t<li>By April 1969, these scientists had established experiments at the Ibadan site organized along disciplinary lines.<\/li>\n \t<li>Soon afterwards, a research committee was established to coordinate these initial steps in the evolution of the Institute\u2019s research program.<\/li>\n \t<li>The first research director, agronomist Rodney A. Briggs, arrived early in 1969.<\/li>\n \t<li>Upon his resignation 2 years later, the position was accepted by John L. Nickel, who left in 1974 to become director general of CIAT.<\/li>\n \t<li>In 1971, the research was organized into four interdisciplinary programs: Farming Systems (James Moomaw), Cereal Improvement (Michael N. Harrison), Grain Legume Improvement (Kenneth O. Rachie), and Root and Tuber Improvement (Sang Ki Hanh). Each of the crop programs included a breeder, agronomist, plant physiologist, plant pathologist, and entomologist as well as biochemists for work on grain legumes and roots and tubers.<\/li>\n \t<li>Staff of the Farming Systems Program represented the following disciplines: systems agronomy, weed science, agricultural engineering, agricultural economics, plant breeding, nematology, soil classification and pedology, soil chemistry, soil fertility, and soil physics.<\/li>\n \t<li>By April 1971, the scientific and administrative staff moved into temporary office and lab space on the IITA campus. These and other facilities were essentially complete and occupied by late 1972.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<em>Excerpted from Sustainable Food production in sub-Saharan Africa, vol. 1 IITA\u2019s contributions, IITA 1992.<\/em>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IITA\u2019s first research scientist was entomologist W. Keith Whitney.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":17071,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[2096],"science-area":[],"program":[],"location":[32],"news-type":[],"hub":[61],"crop":[],"impact-areas":[],"item-year":[194],"class_list":["post-17070","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-bulletin-no-2356iitas-50th-year","location-nigeria","hub-western-africa","item-year-194"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Did you know: The start of IITA\u2019s Research Program - IITA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/iita.org\/fr\/news-item\/did-you-know-the-start-of-iitas-research-program\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Did you know: The start of IITA\u2019s Research Program - IITA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"IITA\u2019s first research scientist was entomologist W. 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